Editor's Note 8/24/17

During his nationwide address Monday night, President Trump seemed proud of himself for changing his mind on Afghanistan, America’s longest war. For years he has criticized the nation’s involvement there, and he acknowledged that his “original instinct was to pull out,” but now his generals have persuaded him to commit more American troops and make an open-ended military commitment. Aside from a welcome promise to get tough on Pakistan, there was little discussion of diplomacy, the only way to stop that war. When it comes to Afghanistan, sadly, this president is little different from his two recent predecessors. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO